


Firewood

by Gunterlearnstofly



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Female Bilbo, Gen, One Shot, bilbo is a cutie, slight innuendo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 03:42:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4988896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gunterlearnstofly/pseuds/Gunterlearnstofly





	Firewood

They had just stopped and had begun to set up camp when Bilbo had dared to approach their leader. "Erm ... Thorin?" She venture, tapping him on the shoulder to gauge his attention as he spoke to Balin in the rough dwarven tongue. He gave an annoyed grunt before turning to face her, she couldn't help but feel like a mouse being stared down by a fox. "I-I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation but what can I do?"

"Go with Dwalin and fetch firewood and don't take too long about it." Thorin instructed, signing something across the camp to Dwalin who nodded, he then continued. "It'll be dark soon and, we'll need a fire to cook our food."

"Yes, I can do that." Bilbo smiled, just happy to be of some use. Thanking Thorin with a small bow, she went off and joined Dwalin who had been patiently waiting for her at the edge of the woods, ax in hand. "Seems, we're working together on this one." She beamed up at the muscle bound dwarf.

"Fine by me, lass." Leading the way, the dwarf stepped into the woods, closely followed by Bilbo. "Now then mistress Baggins, your job for now is to help me find a branch I can cut down."

"Okay but what's wrong with taking back twigs for the fire?" Bilbo propositioned, picking up twig from off the earthen floor and showing it to the dwarf.

"I'm afraid twigs won't be enough to last us until morning, we need logs to burn through the night." Dwalin chuckled, ruffling her hair. "Come along, let's find that branch." She scowled down at the twig in her hand but rather than discard it to the ground among it's fallen brethren, she slid it into her trousers pocket with small grin to herself. "Come on lass!" Dwalin called to her.

"Coming!" She shouted back, running to his side and peering up at the trees she scanned for what she believed was a good looking branch. "What about that one?" She asked, motioning to one of the many branches.

"Too weedy," The dwarf dismissed. "We need something long and thick." After uttering the last word, he gave small snort of laughter, causing Bilbo to raise an eyebrow at him in confusion. "Erm ... hem ... it's nothing lass." It took her a few seconds to piece together what Dwalin had been laughing at but when she did, she gave him what she assumed was a playful punch to the arm; punctuated by an "Ew!" Which caused the dwarf to roar with laughter, the first time she'd heard him laugh like that since they had left Bag End, she noted to herself. After walking a little further along, she spotted what she believed was a branch "Long" and "Thick" enough for the dwarf's want.

"Is that one good enough?" She questioned, pointing to the branch in question.

"Aye, that one'll do just fine." He confirmed then turning to her, he handed her his ax which was a lot heavier than she had anticipated, making her fumble slightly. "Hold my ax for a second Bilbo, will you? While I climb up." She watch as he undid his belt, bringing it round the tree's trunk, he buckled it into place and; using his belt and strong legs, he climbed up until he was level with the branch. "Right, pass us up my ax, lass." He instructed, looking down at her, his hand outstretched.

"Oh, oh yes." She mumbled to herself and taking the ax carefully by it's blade as she would for handling any sharp object, she offered up the handle; going up onto her tip toes in order to better reach. "Got it?" She wasn't answered by words but by the ax leaving her hands.

"You best step back, don't want this to come crashing down onto your head." He informed her and taking his advice, she backed away a good distance. Dwalin grasp a firm hold on the branch, he hacked at it at it's base. It only took three heavy hits from the dwarf's powerful arm to bring it crashing to the ground. Turning back to Bilbo, he offered her the handle of his ax which she took, remembering to make allowance for it's weight this time, so she didn't almost drop it this time. Dwalin slid back down to the ground and readjusted his belt around his waist. "You carry my ax back to camp and, I'll tow this, deal?"

"Fine by me." Bilbo nodded with a grin and they walked back to camp. 

Back at the camp, Dwalin found a flat surface and pulled the branch partway across and once again took up his ax out of Bilbo's hands. "Can you hold it level for me while I chop it?" Dwalin smiled at her and with a beam of her own she held the rather heavy branch as level as she could. "Good, hold it still." He appraised, bring Keeper down on the bark he cut it into a fine log. "Push it further across, lass." With already shaking hands, Bilbo heaved it across to the dwarf. This transaction continued for a little bit longer and Bilbo was grateful as it got lighter and easier for her to move. Finally, Dwalin nodded seemingly satisfied and to Bilbo's confusion, he handed her back his ax. He left her to ponder for only a moment longer as he sat one of the logs onto the flat surface. "I thought you should have a go at breaking a few logs of your own before I do the rest." He informed her.

"Master dwarf, I have never swung an ax in my life." She shook her head of honey coloured hair, offering back his ax but the dwarf simply held up his hands in refusal.

"I want to see you at least try before you give in. Here," He stepped round her and taking her left hand, he placed it at the base of the ax and; moving her right to an inch away from the blade. " Hold it like this. And bring it back like this, so it's head could rest on your shoulder." As he instructed her, he also helped her preform the motion, bringing the blade down to rest just above the log. "You'll want to try for one clean motion and try your best to aim for the center." Then letting go of the ax, he came to stand next to her. With a new determination, her hands gripped the handle tight and, bringing it back; she aimed for the middle. She brought it down with a strangely satisfying thwack. She had got it dead in the center as she had hoped but it had only gone in a few inches and when she went to pull it back from the log, the log had come with it. Feeling rather sheepish, she turned to Dwalin.

"It's stuck." She whispered to him, not wanting to gain attention from the other dwarves. "What do I do?"

"Aye that can happen somethings but just keeping hitting against the flat, like I showed you." He answered, patiently and Bilbo was grateful that he hadn't just laughed at how pathetic she must look. "Crack it down the middle, lass." With slight skepticism, she brought the ax and log back and with as much power as she could muster, she smacked it against the flat stone. And to her great relief, it more further down to the log making it to the halfway mark. But once again when she pulled back the log came with it. Annoyed at the log's misbehavior, she firmed up her grip and hit it against the flat once more. Suddenly, she felt a strong vibration work it's way up her arm as she had made it through to the stone underneath, the log split in half.

"I-I-I did it." She gasped, meeting Dwalin's eyes and pointed to her accomplishment. "I did it."

"Yes, you did." He confirmed with a toothy grin and taking the two halves her placed them to one side and sat another log onto the stone. "Want to have another go before I do the others?" She did not say anything but nodded, turning back to her work. Though her next log wasn't perfectly in the middle, it had only taken two hits to split. But after that last swing, her arms felt like they were going to drop off, if she continued. So she handed back the ax but he didn't seem disappointed that she had given up so easily, instead he seemed quiet pleased. So she stood back and watched as the dwarf made short work of the remaining logs, usually only take one swing to cut them in half. They then collected the halves off the floor, carrying them to the fire pit that Gloin had made ready for them. Dwalin showed her the best way to assemble the halves into a circle in the center, leaving room to add more logs later without the fret of it collapsing from the added weight.

"Wait don't light it yet." Bilbo told Gloin as she remembered something. Pulling the twig from her pocket she placed it pride of place in the small hole that had been formed in the center, it fit just right. "Okay, master Gloin. You can light it now." Gloin just looked at her with a puzzled gaze for a moment before lighting it ablaze. "Burn bright little twig." She whispered to the flames, she didn't notice as Dwalin left to find Thorin.

Thorin had been helping co ordinate the other dwarves and keep a watchful eye on Fili and Kili, doing his best to keep the two as occupied as possible to keep them out of trouble. He felt the presence of another nearby and turned around for his eyes to meet the captain of his guard Dwalin, who had arms held across his chest but he wasn't annoyed but seemingly happy about something. "How did she do?" He whispered to his friend in their mother tongue as to not be overheard.

"Rather well, I'd say." Dwalin rumbled back, under his breathe. "Considering, she'd never swung an ax before and didn't complain or whine at me once. She did better than I and I believe you, gave her credit for. Granted she needs a lot of work but as we all know, she's no warrior. But still top marks for effort."

Hearing his friend's appraisal of her, he looked to where she sat by the fire, warming her hands near the flames. It was true what Dwalin had said, she was no warrior. But the information he had shared with him, showed she at the least showed she had the effort to try, though he wasn't sure that effort would be enough; he nodded to himself. And, "Interesting" was all he could think of to say as he watched laughing merrily among the others.


End file.
